


Don't Touch

by ArgentLives



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Attempted Sexual Assault, Caitlin-centric, Episode Related, Episode Tag, Episode: s01e19 Who is Harrison Wells?, Gen, Non-Consensual Touching
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-04
Updated: 2016-09-04
Packaged: 2018-08-12 22:42:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7952068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArgentLives/pseuds/ArgentLives
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After her encounter with Hannibal Bates, Caitlin is understandably shaken.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Don't Touch

**Author's Note:**

> i wrote this a while ago for anyone who continues to romanticize that gross-as-fuck kiss between Caitlin and Hannibal Bates for the sake of a ship xoxoxo
> 
> [no seriously stop doing this it bothers me so much]

“Hey.”

Caitlin jumps at the voice, startling her out of her thoughts, and whips around. When she sees him, she doesn’t relax like she probably should, like she would’ve before, the second her mind would have registered the absence of a threat. Because that’s the thing-–her mind _does_  register a threat now, can’t quite shake the lingering memory of heavy breath on her neck and feeling closed in and hands encircling her wrists and lips forced onto hers and–

She swallows hard, and pushes the thoughts to the back of her mind, wills her voice not shake and betray her when she speaks. This is Barry. This is her friend. This isn’t the person who–who touched her and he didn’t–-that wasn’t  _him_ , goddamnit. But it looked like him, and it sounded like him, and her mind is having a really hard time making that distinction, even though logically, she knows it was someone else wearing his skin. It doesn’t make it any easier. “Hey, what’s up?” 

He looks so concerned as he approaches her, but her skin still feels like it’s crawling, and she can’t help but flinch when he reaches out to rest a reassuring hand on her shoulder. It doesn’t go unnoticed, and he lets his arm drop mid-air, knitting his eyebrows together in confusion and concern. “I–-sorry,” he says, even though he doesn’t know what he’s apologizing for, really, because she hasn’t told anyone about Bates yet, let alone him. She looks down at her feet and just shakes her head, finding it hard to look him in the eyes, even though she knows that right now, they’re caring and soft and gentle and not like they were before, not with any of that heat or hunger aimed at her, but she just can’t shake the image. 

“Are you okay? You’ve been acting really off recently. Is this about Wells? I know it’s hard to–”

“No,” she whispers, and takes a step back. She runs a hand through her hair and squeezes her eyes shut and tells herself that he won’t judge her if she tells him, and she needs to tell somebody, because she can’t stop thinking about it, and not in a good way. And then there’s that logical side of her again that’s telling her that he’d have no right to judge her, anyway, because it’s not her fault. It’s not her fault. _She’s done nothing wrong_. She’s been trying to convince her mind of that very fact since the moment it happened, but there’s still that nasty little voice in her head that’s telling her she should’ve known, she should’ve pushed him away, should’ve, should’ve, should’ve.

“No, it’s not that. It’s…about Bates. While he was–while you were tied up, and he was…he was here…”

“What did he do?” Barry’s eyes go dark and the concern in his expression takes on a different edge, a harder one. “Did he hurt you?”

“Not…not exactly. He-–I was making that serum to take his powers away, and he was pretending to be you, but I didn’t know it wasn’t you, and he came up behind me and it was really close-–too close–-and I turned around and he didn’t move and I thought maybe–I thought maybe it was just an accident but then he grabbed me and spun me around and I couldn’t–I didn’t know what to do and he kissed me and I tried to push him away at first, but he wouldn’t listen, and then I–” she fiddles with her thumbs, keeping her gaze resolutely fixed on the ground, because the next part will be the hardest to get out. 

“I just…let it happen. I didn’t know what else to do and it took me by surprise and I thought it was you and I didn’t want to make things weird but I just–I feel awful and gross and _guilty_ whenever I think about it, even though I know I shouldn’t, and I don’t even want to think about what would’ve happened if Iris hadn’t shown up, and…I didn’t…” she trails off, finally lifting her gaze from the floor, heart thudding in her chest.

His eyes are squeezed shut, his jaw clenched in anger–at himself and at Bates--and his hands balled into fists, but when he opens his eyes and looks back at her, his expression softens, although there’s still still an edge to it. Mostly, though, he looks sad, and apologetic. “Is that why you’ve been flinching whenever I get close to you?” he asks, his voice low and careful, and when she nods he runs a hand through his hair and lets out a frustrated sigh. “Caitlin, I am so, so sorry.”

“It’s fine. It’s not your fault. I should’ve known, I feel so stupid–-”

“ _No,_ ” he cuts her off, and the firmness in his voice surprises her. “I let the guy into my _house_ , Caitlin, thinking it was Eddie even though I knew it didn’t make sense. Don’t blame yourself for not realizing who it was–and besides, no one should have touched you like that without your consent in the first place. You didn’t do anything.”

She nods, because she knows it’s true, but she still can’t shake the dirty feeling clinging to her skin. She tries to smile but it ends up being more of a grimace, and she looks away. “Yeah…it’s just–I don’t know. I don’t know. I just feel…weird. Wrong, I guess. I’m sure it’ll pass, but…”

He steps towards her and starts to lift his arms, but then abruptly drops them and pulls himself back in an odd jerking motion. She raises an eyebrow in question. “What…?”

He shakes his head, smiling sadly. “Sorry–reflex. I was about to give you a hug, because you looked like you needed one, but I just realized that’s probably really not the appropriate thing to do right now,” he pauses, his smile falling with a slight downturn of his lips, before adding, “Coming from me, I mean.”

“Ah,” is all she can say, but she’s grateful that he didn’t, and furious at Bates, because she really could use a hug and before she would have welcomed one, because his hugs are really nice, and that’s not Barry’s fault and it’s not hers either but that doesn’t change the fact that she still needs time and space and room to breathe, to rebuild that connection.

“Want me to get Cisco?”

She blinks in confusion, the question pulling her away from her thoughts, and tilts her head curiously at him. “Cisco? What’s he got to do with this?”

Barry shrugs and gives her a small smile. “It’s just, you seem like you could really use a friend right now, and I can understand if you don’t want to be around me for a while. Really, I do. I’m sure Cisco would be more than happy to be here for you.”

She bites her lip and nods, because she doesn’t really want to be alone with her thoughts but he’s right, and he immediately pulls his phone out of his pocket to send off a text. It takes less than five seconds for Cisco to respond. “Aaaand there you go. He’s on his way.”

“Thank you,” she says, and she means it. She finds that this time, she doesn’t have to look away when she meets his eyes, and squeezing his hand in thanks doesn’t make her want to jump away. She lets out a deep breath, and some of the tension eases out of her shoulders, some of that uncomfortable feeling hanging in the air lessens just a bit, and she feels just a little bit better. She’ll be okay.


End file.
